Gamtel performed well during Jawara’s time

Alagie
Abdoulie Kebbeh, telecom engineer and consultant, yesterday told the Janneh
Commission that Gamtel performed well during Jawara’s time.

He
was testifying in connection to a contract between MGI and the Multimedia
Gateway Incorporation.

According
to him, the said contract was signed by Balla Jassey and Babucarr Jabbai in
October, 2014, further stating that the purpose of the contract was for the
implementation of the gateway.

Further
testifying, Mr. Kebbeh said he had the contract documents of MGI for the
management of Gamtel international gateway.

However,
he said he did not have the memorandum and articles of association of the
company.

The
telecom expert at that point produced correspondences which included the duty
waiver for Mobicell and other documents relating to the contract and other
projects which were addressed to the Secretary General. He added that the
contracts were not subjected to competitive bidding.

He
also informed the commission that there was a duty waiver on MGI contract and
they did not find out whether they were paying corporate taxes; adding that the
taskforce report did not look into the issue of tax for MGI in Switzerland or
its subsidiary company in The Gambia.

Rectifying
his previous testimony on the payment received by MGI from Gamtel gateway
proceeds, he said the sum of $600,000 was effected from the 1st of June, 2014,
to 31st December, 2014, and also $800,000 up to the end of 2016 when the
contract started.

Dwelling
further, he said Gamtel did not benefit from the contract and that all the
monies went to Spectrum. He said Gamtel had no autonomy to manage the company;
adding that the monies went to CBG and not to Gamtel.

Mr.
Kebbeh testified that they did not suggest to the former government to sell
Gamtel shares. He said what he meant by ‘autonomy’ was that Gamtel should
decide on matters concerning Gamtel and the management of the gateway. He
recollected that Gamtel was among the best companies in terms of communication
after South Africa.

He
assumed that if the company enjoys autonomy, it would regain its lost glory. He
said the companies that signed contracts with Gamtel for the management of
gateway were not investors but business group who showed interest in the
national telecom company.

According
to him, the shareholders of Gamtel (government) seized the revenue of the
company and interfered with its affairs which had affected the company. He said
Gamtel’s debt was about 1 billion dalasis.

At
this juncture, when he was asked by Commissioner Saine, he said he did not
think that the termination of traffic at the office of the former president
stopped.

Documents
relating to the management service reports as well as certificates of
incorporation were admitted in evidence.

Next
to testify was Abdoulie Jallow, permanent secretary, Ministry of Finance, who
reappeared in connection to the disbursement of $5,000,000 to a Central Bank
account. He told the commission that they could not establish the beneficiary
of the said amount.

According
to him, the normal procedure was to follow their tender procedure and when it
was finalised, the supervisor or the government consultant would authorise or
certify for payments. However, on a $35,000,000 loan, he said they did not have
any evidence that the Ministry of Finance was involved.

Commission’s
counsel, Amie Bensouda, told him that in 1999, there were grants signed by the
government but the witness responded that grants were handled by the office of
the former president; adding that he did not know anything regarding the
Republic of China, and The Gambia protocols.

It
was put to him by Counsel Bensouda that substantial grants were made by Taiwan.
In response, he said most of the grants were involved in the development
assistance; adding that his ministry was fully involved in grants given to The
Gambia as it must be included in the estimates presented to the National
Assembly and are treated under Revenue and Grants Section.

However,
Mr. Jallow revealed to the commission that his ministry did not play any role
in the grants granted by Republic of China on Taiwan, because the ministry was
not involved in grants prior to 2013.